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Michael Ahearn (USA)

Michael Ahearn was working as a lawyer in Phoenix when he was introduced to Wal-Mart heir the late John Walton. He initially represented Walton in investment matters and teamed up with him in 1996 to co-found True North as a specialist investment firm, eventually moving into solar power. In 1999, True North put $45 million into Ohio-based Solar Cells Inc and Ahearn took over as chief executive on what he planned to be a temporary basis. By 2002, the company had burned through the initial $45m; it took another $100 million from Walton and two more years before the firm, now called First Solar, got its first commercial production line running, with a total investment of about $150 million. In 2006 it floated on the stock market and the shares soared. At one point it was worth $18